Nikon Coolpix L4 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

I was not enjoying the hunt for a consistently well-reviewed digital camera. It seemed like every camera had an upside, and every camera had a downside.

Fortunately, this camera was well-reviewed and within my price range. I wasn't expecting much at first, but when I took it out of the box and started tinkering with it, I was pleasantly surprised.

The camera is very user friendly, and I had few "What did I just do and how do I undo it?" moments. The menus are self-explanatory, and easily maneuvered.

One of the best aspects to this camera is that I have never really had a problem getting pictures to turn out. There are multiple white balance settings along with multiple flash settings so that if a picture happens to come out too bright or too dim, a few button pushes and it is easily resolved.

The face-finder feature is a great one, although I have done few portrait photos. Why? The macro setting (for extreme close-ups) proves to be an irresistable one. Ever wanted to take one of those art-gallery-type photos of flowers or bugs? This camera makes it so freaking easy!

There are a few downsides: Ocassionally, the photos come out rather blurry, even when I am doing my best to hold perfectly still. This is especially true when using the macro setting and a pretty good wind is jostling your bush/flower/tree/etc...

Additionally, the flash can take longer to recharge than one would probably desire, and this delay has cost me a few good pictures, but not many...Another flash issue is with the sports mode settings. These settings are great and are for use in well-lit sporting situations. Having said that, in those moments when you need fast, multiple shots that are NOT well-lit, I'm afraid you're just S.O.L.

I don't really have any other gripes. The batteries usually last a fairly long time. I use crappy rechargables and have had no need to frequently change them, especially after changing the battery-type setting (yes, there's a battery-type setting!!!). I was also impressed at the number of bonuses I found in the box with the camera: a pair of batteries, a USB cable to connect the camera to my computer (easily), photo editing software with a really cool panorama maker (you can make 360-degree panoramas, too!), and loads of useful information re: digital camera use (if you want to take the time to educate yourself).

All in all, I am very pleased with this camera and would readily recommend it to anyone looking for a decent yet inexpensive digicam.

I purchased this digital camera to replace an older Kodak model and I am very impressed with the ease of use and the picture quality of this Nikon. To show how technology has so rapidly improved, my Kodak, which was purchased several years ago for $500, had 1 megapixel and took great pics. This camera is 4 megapixels, takes video as well as still shots, and has a host of other features that my Kodak did not have, and I paid $150 for it. Plus, the smaller size of the Nikon, as compared with the Kodak, makes it easier to carry along. I purchased a 1GB memory card to store a lot of pictures. The internal memory of the camera, without the card, can hold about 10 pics. The viewing screen also improves the ability to take pictures more easily than looking through a small viewfinder. I was very pleased with the movie mode, which takes crystal clear videos. There is no audio with the movie feature, but I save important videos for my video camera. This is a great feature to have, nonetheless, for those moments where you might want to capture some video footage. Then only drawback to this camera, which is very minor, is that it does not come with an AC adaptor, which I would want to use when transferring pictures from the camera to the computer, so as to save the batteries. I ordered the adaptor from a camera shop separately, which runs about $30. All in all, this a great camera, easy to use, takes impressive pictures and is a lot of fun.

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I, too, bought this camera as a replacement for a previous digital camera. My Olympus D-450 was flawless at only 1.3 megapixels, the quality of the photos (even 8x10 enlargements) was superb and it was extremely easy to use. However, there was the issue of those mini-megapixels, the camera's age (7 years) and size (it was getting too big to schelp around handily). So I talked myself into stepping up into the 21st century of digital cameras.

I've had this little Nikon for 15 hours and there's nothing I don't know how to do on it at this point, it's that easy to set up and use. Photo quality is wonderful. I have a couple of 256mb memory cards on order and will likely run out and get yet another, bigger, card today. I take lots of pictures, and with a major vacation coming up in 6 weeks, I'll be taking lots and lots more pictures. A big selling point for me was the slightly larger viewing screen (2"). 1.5 inches in some of the compact digital cameras is just TOO small.

FYI, for those of you who quibble about downloading pictures from the camera (any camera) to your computer, get yourselves a memory card reader. Not only does it save your batteries, the download speed will astonish you. I have a SanDisk ImageMate 12; that means it reads 12 different types of cards/memory sticks. It runs off the USB port in your computer, so there are no batteries involved. It's inexpensive and well worth it.

To sum up, this little Nikon is easy to use, produces great photos and I look forward to many years of faithful service I hope! from it. And the price! 1/3 of what I paid for the old Olympus for many more features. This one is a winner in my book.

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I bought the L4 as a gift for my young photobug nephew nephews to replace an older camera I'd bought for him a few years ago. He's delighted with it, and why not? It has excellent resolution (4MP), good color, Nikon quality, good battery life and easy to navigate menus. It uses AA cells, which means batteries are always available. As for me, I was happy with the excellent value for the price.

With 4MP resolution, this camera can easily produce images that can be blown up to 8x10 or 11x14more than enough to satisfy 99% of the camera buyers out there. If you never blow up pictures beyond 4x6 or 5x7, you could pay two or three times as much and still not get better images. For web use, it's more than sufficient; you could crop away 80% of an image and still have more than enough resolution for a page-sized web image. Builders and others needing to document work will find it a useful accesory that can be kept at hand in a small belt pack.

About the only thing this camera doesn't have is instant shutter response, something that you still need to pay about $400 or so to get. But for general purpose family use, for kids learning photography, and even for the artist on a budget it's an excellent choice.

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I am a rank amateur in photography. I was looking for a good camera to take a few photographs of my child, and my cousin who is a South Asian dealer for various kinds of cameras and equipment recommended the Nikon L series to me. The L3 and the L2 seemed to be somewhat above budget for a student, so I tried the L4 and was pleasantly surprised.

The icons and buttons are very user friendly. The camera takes plain AA batteries which proved to be very useful on a visit to Sixflags when the existing batteries died mid-trip.

The photographs come out slightly blurry in inadequate lighting which I first thought was a fault of the camera. I compared this with a friend who owns a Sony cybershot 7.2 MP camera, and his does the same in uneven light. The photographs are superb in daytime and in the evening/night there are a few settings to choose from.

The size is unobtrusive, and fits inside a pants pocket easily. The LCD is very well lit and user-friendly.

Some people may consider it a downside that the camera does not have a viewfinding lens; I did not consider it to be a problem.

I higly recommmend this camera to someone starting out as a photographer.